Wednesday, June 14, 2017

But knitting is only for old ladies...


I guess it was because we just had WWKIP day. I saw another one of those articles where a journalist starts with "knitting isn't just for old ladies anymore". The knitter being interviewed spent a lot of time explaining the fallacy behind "knitting isn't just for old ladies anymore". Of course I couldn't help myself, I went looking for the interviewee on social media and found, surprise, surprise a woman who is probably in her sixties, maybe seventies. And I'm fine with that. After all I've been knitting for so long that I was a hip
young thing myself when I started. 

I think the reason I got annoyed was the "lady doth protest too much" feel to the article. Last week I got into one of the "you look old if you don't dye your hair conversations"  with someone who is being pressured to dye her absolutely fabulous silver locks. On Sunday I was out with a group of friends from my corporate past and we were talking about the ageism in industry. For me that's the real issue, the ageism behind the knitting comments. 

In mainstream media, aging is depicted in a negative way, some say it's a form of stereotyping. Older individuals aren't valued for their experience. Everything is about trying to look and behave like younger people. Perhaps it's my meditating but I feel like "it is what it is" why agonize about lost youth? I know that what I've gained with age is much more valuable than anything I might have lost and I have a hard time coming up with anything that isn't.

This article in The Economist shows evidence exists that I'm just at the beginning of one of the happiest periods of my life. I plan to knit all the way through it!


 






1 comment:

  1. And people wonder why I carry around my knitting while out (I'm 37, for the record, and I started knitting about 10 years ago).......break the stereotypes!

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